CD8: Damn the FSH! We've Got Follicles!

My site was down for a few days, but I'm finally back online.

So where are we?

Yesterday:
Intralipids
Baseline U/S and bloodwork
Day 5 of Femara

Today:
Stim day 4 (450 Gonal-F/night)

We did our first monitoring U/S yesterday and despite my FSH being in the stratosphere, I have follicles.

6 or 7 of them!

Dr. Italian said this could wind up being my best cycle yet (with him, that is, not with previous docs). He doesn't understand why my bloodwork showed my FSH as being so high but my follicles indicate that the value is either incorrect or meaningless.

The biggest follicle is about 10mm and the others are all smaller but they are grouped together. This is good if the cohort stays and grows together. We also saw follicles on my previously dead right ovary. Could my screwed-up right ovary be back in the saddle at last? There's still a 1.5cm endometrioma on the right side, which would explain some of the pain that I have, but otherwise it all looks good.

What is also weird is that on CD3, my lining was at 9mm. NINE? Yesterday, on CD7, my lining was at 12mm. WTF? My CD3 lining, without stims, is already thick enough to cycle with? This is weird. Just weird. And after two days of Gonal-F my lining is thick enough to transfer with? What the hell is it going to be after 9 days of stims? 17mm? I am starting to wonder if there is something WRONG with my uterine lining. I have never had a lining this thick in my entire life. I have to assume that he is measuring lining in a way that is different than my previous REs because I know of no functional reason for it to be this thick.

But anyways, I am stunned that this cycle might actually work. Stunned doesn't actually convey what I am feeling. When I heard my FSH value I was in shock. I was on the verge of thinking all was done for. A few people said to wait and not cycle, a few encouraged me to press on. So press on it what I'm going to do since I have follicles. I simply do not have the luxury of time anymore.

My next monitoring U/S is 5:15PM on Monday. I started my new job last Monday and I am so petrified to take any time off for this at all. How to get to appointments without it being noticed or frowned upon? I do NOT want to confide in my manager about this as I don't want to set off any alarms. I don't want him rethinking his decision to hire me that I am trying to get pregnant and then run off on family leave. (I wouldn't even QUALIFY for family leave being that a baby born in this cycle would be born within my first year of work.)

Do any of you ladies have any recommendations or advice about how to get to IVF appointments without using a medical reason? I would hate for my new manager to think that I'm a medical nutcase that is always going to be taking time off, but there's no way to reschedule an ER or ET. Ya know?

Stim Day 5Feeling the Pain

Today's stim day 5 and my ovaries are aching and feeling laden. I'm still not convinced that 600iu of gonal-f a day is going to have me ready to trigger when I go in for my first monitoring u/s on Monday afternoon. I told the doc that 600iu was a lot for me and he didn't seem concerned at all. He ordered me 5 syringes of 250mg ganirelex, which I'm supposed to take at some point to keep from ovulating, but I suspect that I'll get in one shot on Monday evening and MAYBE, just MAYBE, a second shot on Tuesday.

My money is on my being ready to trigger on Monday and retrieving on Wednesday.

We're proceeding with the sclerotherapy on the endometriomas on my right ovary immediately after retrieval. They'll be taking two 250mg sterile vials of pure powdered tetracycline and rehydrating them with sterile saline (or other) ... they'll drain the blood from my endometriomas, refill with tetracycline solution, and then redrain near completely. Hopefully they'll heal while I'm in my 2ww and the two weeks following that.

I'm feeling terribly bloated and tender and I'm already looking forward to retrieval. It's hard doing two IVFs in rapid succession. I didn't get a chance to lose the weight from the last cycle and I'm just so incredibly uncomfortable. Also making me feel a bit icky is that yesterday I did an intralipid infusion at my hematologist's office which pumped 200ml of intralipids and 500ml of saline into me. Hmmm...no wonder I'm feeling a bit, plump?